Antennas for television reception, FM radio reception, or the like frequently consist of an elongated boom that is oriented horizontally when the antenna is in use, and secured in spaced relationship along the length of the boom are a plurality of pairs of dipole elements, each element of a dipole pair radiating from the opposite side of the antenna. For excellent color television reception, for television reception in fringe areas remote from the signal transmitter, and for adequate television reception over the full range of channels, the above type of television antennas have become quite large. The antenna booms are often quite long, e.g. in excess of 12 feet. In addition, some of the dipole elements are quite long, with the longest such elements often being a few feet in length. It is apparent that in use, such antennas are quite large and are quite cumbersome to handle and carry.
In order to be able to market antennas sucessfully, especially for "do-it-yourself" installations, they should be easily carried by a customer from the place of purchase to the place at which the antenna is to be installed. This requires that the antenna be made compact for sales, storage and travel purposes. For a relatively large antenna of the type discussed herein, a retailer should be able to display the antenna in a much smaller space on his sales floor, the box holding the antenna should be smaller than the assembled antenna and the customer should be able to easily carry the antenna from the retailer's stock.